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Re: Re: The ethics of humour

by demerphq (Chancellor)
on Apr 01, 2004 at 14:14 UTC ( [id://341633]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to Re: The ethics of humour
in thread The ethics of humour

The fact that the impact of this of is relatively minimal does not detract from the point that it overall unethical and wrong.

I recognize not everyone would agree with me. But the abuse of super user powers to change how an individual represents themselves is in my eyes _wrong_ just about whatever the justification. Editorial intervention when something is outright offensive is one thing. For a joke? Nah sorry, its just unethical.


---
demerphq

    First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
    -- Gandhi


Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: Re: The ethics of humour
by vroom (His Eminence) on Apr 01, 2004 at 15:10 UTC
    I take full responsibility for this joke and the poor implementation. As many pmdev members know it's not the only reprehensible code I'm responsible for, in fact there's a lot of it on this site.

    If anyone is seriously offended by their homenode being misrepresented /msg me and I'll see what steps can be taken to find an amicable solution. For anyone I offended or let down, I apologize.

    demerphq I would contend that if you find this action to be offensive you may want to consider the contents of your homenode. Some others might take issue with clicking the button on your homenode only to find a message they hadn't intended placed in the chatterbox and represented as their words.

    Personally I can see the humor in both and think that depending on the words chosen for the message, and the extent and type of homenode changes the chance of serious offense can be minimized. Clearly some use of personal judgement is necessary in both cases. I don't think either of us got it seriously wrong. I do welcome people telling me if they think I displayed poor judgment. If after hearing from others I find this was in fact the case I will take that feedback very seriously and hopefully exhibit better judgment in the future.

    Update: It is clear from the XP losses I am sustaining that the will of the community is against me on this. I haven't received any /msg's regarding this problem but the message delivered through voting seems clear. I've modified the code so now only your homenode shows other images. This way we can have fun and still be *more* ethical.

      Thanks, vroom, for stepping up and discussing the issue. I think demerphq's response is far beyond the pale: blogs are blogs are blogs, they're supposed to be transient and nobody really OWNS anything. It's also pretty clear that this is a temporary thing for levity's sake.

      A few years ago, I was an officer in a start-up company. A key employee created an internal forum for submitting artwork assets, and chose to use a pseudo-religious motif in the features of that forum. A less-key employee threatened the company over the use of religious symbolism in company operation. I personally am agnostic and despise state sponsorship of any religion, and yet I was dismayed to think someone was even more uptight about it than I was.

      I was initially put back by the dominant motifs of THIS site, and they are a constant reminder to me of that unpleasant situation in my previous company. However, I am gratified by my experiences here that the use of symbolism is not indicative of proselytization.

      The brief lesson here is that some unstable people are just going to go crazy at the slightest provocation, no matter what. Execute your joke if you like, don't permanently delete stuff without cause, and don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out of it alive.

      Oh, and I noticed several times today that my XP was plummeting too, so maybe people don't care for my point of view, either. ;)

      --
      [ e d @ h a l l e y . c c ]

      I looked at my homenode pic and almost spit coffee on the screen LMAO (It was a head shot of an infant - I forget whose real homenode pic it was) :-) I don't agree with demerphq and others that you should make sure it's April 1st localtime for users, because then you'd get some people experiencing the joke before others, talking about it, and ruining it for the others in later (earlier?) timezones. So pick a timezone, and let others be confused about the when and why. OTOH, I do agree with tye that it's "annoying amateur day", but think it's no worse than other pseudo-holidays, and (possibly) even better in that it's at least (supposed to be) a day of amusement.

      Not in order.

      Some others might take issue with clicking the button on your homenode only to find a message they hadn't intended placed in the chatterbox and represented as their words.

      Fair call. Fixed.

      For anyone I offended or let down, I apologize.

      Accepted in full.

      I don't think either of us got it seriously wrong.

      Personally I feel we both did. My button is there partly because its a harmless way to teach people that homenodes aren't safe. The point was forgotten over time as i occasionally modified it away from its original more direct message which i think was something like "/me shouldn't press other peoples home node buttons" or "/me mails his perlmonks password to demerphq". Even the one you just looked at was along these lines. However the fact it didnt mention my name was wrong. Anyway, as I said, thats fixed now.

      I've modified the code so now only your homenode shows other images. This way we can have fun and still be *more* ethical.

      Great. I think thats a perfect compromise and frankly had it been the plan in the first place actually pretty funny.

      I guess a /msg with my concerns to you would have been a better way to deal with this. I did discuss it in the CB but wanted to deal with it as a PMD anyway. I regret that i played a part in spoiling the fun, but after discussion and reflection still felt it was wrong.

      As many pmdev members know it's not the only reprehensible code I'm responsible for, in fact there's a lot of it on this site

      It works. Its patchable. And some of us pmdevers have posted a few stinkers ourselves. Thanks for your efforts vroom. I think you know how I feel about the site. Cheers.


      ---
      demerphq

        First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
        -- Gandhi


        I appreciate your input and am glad that none of this has turned into a long-standing problem. Your points are well-taken. It was all meant to be good fun and in deciding how to achieve maximum effect I was trying to decide whether to make the change affect only the current user's node, or other users' nodes and what sorts of probabilities for each. In the end I decided both with differing probabilities.

        The point you raised does make sense and in my attempts to maximize the effect of the humor (in my mind at least) perhaps I didn't consider all possible consequences. I'm glad in the end a compromise could be found and humor could still exist w/o misrepresenting a user to others.

        Hopefully we're all a little wiser, learned something from this and had some laughs in the process. Thanks for being willing to express your views. I'm glad I haven't irreparably offended you since your contributions here are valued. Also I like your new homenode button.

        vroom

      I have two comments to make about all this:

      1. Wazzamatter? Can't take a joke?
      2. As my hero Bugs Bunny has said: "Dont' take life so seriously, you'll never get out of it alive anyway!"

      The only (slightly) negative thing I will say about all this is: I wonder how may coronaries resulted from the "Ack!" message! :-)


      Peter L. Berghold -- Unix Professional
      Peter at Berghold dot Net
         Dog trainer, dog agility exhibitor, brewer of fine Belgian style ales. Happiness is a warm, tired, contented dog curled up at your side and a good Belgian ale in your chalice.
      It is clear from the XP losses I am sustaining
      Says the man that gained 56 XP yesterday! You're a cheap XP whore! :-)

      Like many others, I was way more worried that my account had been hacked than to worry about XP losses. I really, really appreciate the site (boy do I!), and I also appreciate your candour in replying to demerphq. Having the 'wrong' home node picture pop up would be a problem if there were potentially work-dangerous pictures, but since that isn't the case, it's a relatively harmless prank.

      And I didn't worry that much about the supposed XP losses -- every time I 'lost' XP, I remained the same distance away from level vroom. ;) And anyway, it's not my XP, it's XP that other people have given to me.

      Alex / talexb / Toronto

      Life is short: get busy!

      Well - I thought it was funny anyway :-)

Re^3: The ethics of humour
by PhilHibbs (Hermit) on Apr 01, 2004 at 17:15 UTC
    So get rid of that "Huh?" button on your home node, then, if you're so hung up about misrepresentation.
Re: Re: Re: The ethics of humour
by Limbic~Region (Chancellor) on Apr 01, 2004 at 14:22 UTC
    demerphq,
    abuse of super user powers to change how an individual represents themselves is in my eyes _wrong_

    In my cursory tests, I did not find that there was any change in the way users represented themselves to others and is the main reason I commented. I was not disputing your claims of it being un-ethical. I have sat through enough ethics training seminars myself both for the military and for the government to know that a myriad of things I would never consider un-ethical are.

    After discovering that this was just by chance, I did not want to delete my reply, so I updated it.

    L~R

      With good enough seminars everything is un-ethical.

      Jenda
      Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
         -- Rick Osborne

      Edit by castaway: Closed small tag in signature

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